Government and Politics   

The rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany in the 1930s and their reign of terror across Europe in the 1940s were aided by some of the most prominent Americans and American corporations and institutions. Based on the scholarly work of Edwin Black and other historians, this course will explore the roles played by Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie, General Motors, and IBM in establishing the Nazis and empowering them through war and genocide. The course will be comprised of lectures with abundant historical images and class discussion.
 *This class will be recorded.

Are you willing to pay a little more for your favorite steak and wine to win the war in Ukraine? How is the increased price of your food basket here in California related to the war in Ukraine? The first days of the war: difficult questions that no one wants to answer. How to bring victory closer and the role of negotiations in this process. Restoration of Ukraine: how much will it cost? who will pay? how long will it take? What will the future Ukraine be like? What is its strength and what is its weakness? The demographic situation in Ukraine and other post-war countries - what is common and what is the difference? Will it be a new European power, a member of NATO? In the next two hours, together we will try to answer these and some other pressing questions.

Are you willing to pay a little more for your favorite steak and wine to win the war in Ukraine? How is the increased price of your food basket here in California related to the war in Ukraine? The first days of the war: difficult questions that no one wants to answer. How to bring victory closer and the role of negotiations in this process. Restoration of Ukraine: how much will it cost? who will pay? how long will it take? What will the future Ukraine be like? What is its strength and what is its weakness? The demographic situation in Ukraine and other post-war countries - what is common and what is the difference? Will it be a new European power, a member of NATO? In the next two hours, together we will try to answer these and some other pressing questions.

If you came of age when the war in Vietnam was in the daily news, you may wonder how it all began. Would it surprise you to know that crucial decisions were made by both President Kennedy and President Johnson in 1963? That was the year that United States political and military policies in Southeast Asia took a sharp turn. Employing the research of John M. Newman and others, this course will examine how both of these presidents sought to deceive the American people in order to win an election. The gate to America’s great political and military disaster of the late 20th century is surveyed, which also includes an examination of the Bay of Pigs Incident, the Berlin Wall Crisis, and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
 *This class is being recorded.

This course's goal is to analyze events that led to America's current political impasse, to determine if this is the first time in our history that we have been so confronted and, if so, how we reversed course. We will examine key concepts and practices of American exceptionalism and manifest destiny, hubris, political tradition, contempt for the Constitution, rule of law, institutional racism, role of the military and, of course, key aspects of American history. At the end, we should develop alternatives based on realism, prudence, scrupulous self-understanding and appreciation of the world as it is.

Beginning in 1879, African-Americans migrated from the southern and border states to the Plains. Community building and black self government were important tenets of the Exoduster Movement that established African-American communities, influenced political economy and the arts, and contributed to the foundation of the Civil Rights movement. The identity and contributions of Exodusters will be examined using historical documents and film.